Randy Brooks
b. 28 March 1917, Maine, USA, d. 21 March 1967. A child prodigy, Brooks was playing trumpet in Salvation Army bands when he was only 10 years of age. In 1937 he travelled to New York to try his luck and soon found work with Rudy Vallée: later he was a member of the bands of Hal Kemp and Claude Thornhill. In the '40s he formed his own band and had record successes with Tenderly and Harlem Nocturne. In 1945 his band accompanied Ella Fitzgerald on two tracks recorded for Decca. Brooks, who married Ina Ray Hutton in 1949 (they divorced in 1957), suffered a stroke in 1950 which cut short his career. He died in a fire at his home in March 1967.